DO NOT READ AT NIGHT! ║⋄Completed⋄║

13

There, by the road, sat an older man with a grin painted across his face. "13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13!" he chanted cheerfully.

The man loved that number for reasons only he knew. He screamed it over and over. Endless repetition of that same number.

I stood on the opposite side of the road, waiting for my friend to pick me up in his truck.

The man waved at me, wiggling his fingers at me in a way that older people would say, accompanied by a toodle-loo! 

I shivered as the man stared directly at me, except he quit rambling on about the number 13. He simply smiled, and called, "Hello, sir, would you like to be 14?"

I frowned, baffled. "Huh? 14? What does that mean?" I demanded.

"Come over. I'll be glad to show you. You can be 14. Do you want to see?" the man giggled, the corner of his eye twitching.

I hesitated. "No. No, thank you."

The man sighed, "13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13. Such a miserable, lonely, 13. If only it were 14. 13, 13, 13, 13."

Just then, a young boy, twelve or so, was starting down the side of the road that I was on, humming. He glanced at me, giving a polite nod.

The man on the other side of the road, spotted the boy, calling, "Hey, lad, would you like to be 14?"

The boy squinted. "14? Is that an age or something? What does that-" he started.

The man laughed. "14. Come over here, lad, I will show you. It's quick, painless, and you can be 14."

The boy shrugged, then started across the street.

I didn't even hear it coming. A van shot down the road, smacking right into the boy. I heard a small crunch, and a tiny hiss, but then the boy and the vehicle were gone. Not even a drop of blood was spilled on the street. Not a single trace. Yet I somehow knew that he was dead.

I gaped at the man on the other side of the road, but he wasn't looking at me. He was gazing off into the distance, chanting, "14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14. Such a lonely, miserable 14. If it only it were 15. 14, 14, 14, 14."